There was nothing wrong with his outing, Darvish's third this spring. He gave up one run on three hits over five innings, striking out four. He also contributed a single in the Cubs' four-run fourth inning.

"My swing speed is generally slow," Darvish said, "but the slider happened to be there and I hit the ball."

Playing full-time in the National League will mean much more hitting and baserunning than Darvish did with the Rangers. He enters the season with four hits in 31 at-bats in his career, and 17 of those at-bats came in nine games last season with the Dodgers.

"Obviously [I have to get use to baserunning], but I'd rather walk home than run home so I'll practice that," Darvish said.

He was greeted by a chorus of "Yuuuu" from the Cubs fans in the sellout crowd of 13,044. Darvish also heard that from the crowd while pitching for the Rangers and the Dodgers.

"I think it's bigger here with the Chicago Cubs," he said.

As for his outing, Darvish said he felt strong in the first three innings, then got a little "sloppy."

"I have to keep up the consistency," he said. "The velocity was up there in the first three and the fourth inning, but it went down in the fifth inning. That's what I'll keep working on."

He got some help from catcher Willson Contreras, who led off the fourth with a home run. Efren Navarro then doubled and one out later, Mike Freeman homered for a 3-0 Cubs lead.